Wyoming
Wyoming sputters once again, loses by 20 to BYU
If you continue to perform the same action over and over again, expecting a different outcome, that is the definition of insanity.
Wyoming’s offense has looked no different from their opener in Tempe to last night’s game against BYU.
Coach-speak isn’t the answer.
Staying the course isn’t the answer.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Quarter (7-0 BYU Advantage)
5:58 – 20-yard pass from QB Jake Retzlaff to WR Keanu Hill (Will Ferrin PAT)
Wyoming 0 – BYU 7
2nd Quarter (10-7 BYU Advantage)
9:12 – 3-yard pass from QB Jake Retzlaff to WR Kody Epps (Will Ferrin PAT)
5:11 – 2-yard run by QB Evan Svoboda (John Hoyland PAT)
Wyoming 7 – BYU 14
0:45 – 49-yard field goal by K Will Ferrin
Wyoming 7 – BYU 17
HALFTIME
3rd Quarter (17-0 BYU Advantage)
14:45 – 100-yard kickoff return for WR Keelan Marion (Will Ferrin PAT)
Wyoming 7 – BYU 24
9:42 – 37-yard field goal by K Will Ferrin
Wyoming 7 – BYU 27
0:02 – 20-yard pass from QB Jake Retzlaff to WR Darius Lassiter (Will Ferrin PAT)
Wyoming 7 – BYU 34
4th Quarter (7-0 WYO Advantage)
6:29 – 1-yard run by QB Evan Svoboda (John Hoyland PAT)
Wyoming 14 – BYU 34
FINAL
BYU COUGARS 34 – WYOMING COWBOYS 14
WYOMING PLAYER OF THE GAME
N Wrook Brown – The most impactful defender, Brown came up with an early interception to stymy the Cougars’ redzone offense. He had chances to bring down another pick or two, but was unable to come down with them. Showcasing his role as an on-field leader, Brown will need to maintain his efforts if Wyoming looks to find their first win of 2024.
GRADES
Offense – D-
The score doesn’t reflect how anemic this side of the ball has been since Jay Sawvel has taken over in Laramie.
Alex Taylor, writer for WyoSports, reported on the newly-updated statistics as of Sunday.
*These rankings are out of 133 FBS teams
Total offense: 132nd (201.7 yards per game)
Scoring offense: Tied for 130th (11.3 points per game)
Passing offense: 128th (114.7 yards per game)
Rushing offense: 120th (87 yards per game)
Only two out of 12 drives ended in points.
QB Evan Svoboda had moments of solid play, throwing receivers open and delivering darts.
Alas, that is still far and between – exemplified by a 43.8% completion percentage.
The running game was nowhere to be found.
Sam Scott, D.J. Jones and Dawaiian McNeely combined for 19 carries and 45 yards.
2.36 yards a carry is not going to cut it.
Even the return of John Michael Gyllenborg was underwhelming – the tight end didn’t record a single reception.
Many fans clamored for one of Wyoming’s backup QBs (Jayden Clemons or Kaden Anderson) to get some snaps in the 4th quarter.
That did not happen.
Sawvel made it known to the media after the game that his confidence in Svoboda has not wavered and that the Pokes have played two P4 teams in their first three games.
Wyoming plays North Texas in Denton, Texas, next week.
If a similar performance occurs in the Lone Star state, change should be expected.
Defense – C-
As the offense goes, so does the defense.
The thing is, I can’t blame those under Aaron Bohl’s leadership to have a tough time maintaining their defensive fortitude.
If you know the offense isn’t going to do squat when they get the ball back, motivation is hard to come by.
The defense held strong in the 1st half, limiting BYU to 17 points and keeping the Cowboys in the fight as they went to the locker room.
However, Cougar QB Jake Retzlaff found his rhythm coming out out of the half – finishing the game with 291 yards and 3 TDs.
I will say that outside of Retzlaff’s improvisation when forced out of the pocket, Wyoming held the run game in check – limiting BYU to 78 yards.
An interception by Wrook Brown prevented the Pokes from losing the turnover battle.
Special Teams – D+
Punting can only curve your performance so much.
Credit to Jack Culbreath and his ability to flip the field – he had eight chances to do so.
But when you allow a kick return touchdown right out of halftime that swings momentum violently in one direction, the fallout is on you as a unit.
A potential three-and-out on BYU’s opening possession of the second half could have been massive.
That TD put the game out of reach due to the Cowboys inability to march down the field when in possession.
Kicker John Hoyland converted two PATs, but nothing more.
WHAT DOES THIS RESULT SIGNIFY?
Not even a storied rivalry going back to 1922 was able to turn this ship around.
Sometimes, teams can have disappointing starts, yet, they see a bright light up ahead and know that the season will get better.
Wyoming?
You lost your lone FCS game and haven’t looked anywhere near competitive against two Big 12 teams expected to finish in the middle-to-bottom tier of the conference.
More importantly, I haven’t seen any contagious energy on the sideline or buzz within the team.
Lethargic, melancholy…you can pick whatever adjective you like.
But a team under a new head coach should never evoke this feeling three games in.
GOING FORWARD
North Texas.
Your last non-conference opponent before Mountain West play begins.
The Mean Green are 2-1 with not much on their resume.
A 52-38 win @ South Alabama.
A 35-20 vs FCS Stephen F. Austin.
A 66-21 loss @ Texas Tech where UNT gave up 52 points in the 1st half.
As of now, DraftKings favors North Texas by nine points.
Barring a miraculous turnaround after the bye week in early October, this team will not go bowling.
Mountain West cellar dwellers have improved (New Mexico, Utah State, San Jose State).
The Cowboys’ next two games are arguably their easiest left on the schedule (UNT and Air Force).
Jay Sawvel, Evan Svoboda, and everyone associated with Wyoming football need a win in the next two weeks.
Wyoming
Casper veteran David Giralt joins race for Wyoming U.S. House seat
Wyoming
Rivalries and Playoff Positioning Highlight Week 11 Wyoming Girls Basketball Slate
It’s Week 11 in the 2026 Wyoming prep girls’ basketball season. That means it’s the end of the regular season. 3A and 4A schools have their final game or games to determine seeding before the regional tournament, or if a team is locked into a position, one last chance to fine-tune before the postseason. Games are spread across four days.
WYOPREPS WEEK 11 GIRLS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE 2026
Every game on the slate is a conference matchup. Several rivalry contests are part of this week’s schedule, such as East against Central, Cody at Powell, Lyman hosting Mountain View, and Rock Springs at Green River, just to name a few. Here is the Week 11 schedule of varsity games WyoPreps has. All schedules are subject to change. If you see a game missing, please email david@wyopreps.com.
CLASS 4A
Final Score: Laramie 68 Cheyenne South 27 (conference game)
CLASS 3A
Final Score: Lyman 40 Mountain View 26 (conference game)
CLASS 4A
Final Score: Evanston 41 Riverton 39 (conference game)
Final Score: Natrona County 42 Kelly Walsh 38 (conference game) – Peach Basket Classic
Final Score: #4 Thunder Basin 64 Campbell County 32 (conference game)
CLASS 3A
Final Score: #1 Cody 77 Worland 33 (conference game) – 5 different Fillies with a 3, and Hays led the way with 34 points.
Final Score: #2 Lander 49 Lyman 34 (conference game)
Final Score: #4 Wheatland 51 Douglas 40 (conference game)
Final Score: #5 Powell 48 Lovell 42 (conference game)
Final Score: Burns 56 Torrington 43 (conference game)
Final Score: Glenrock 78 Newcastle 30 (conference game)
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CLASS 4A
Rock Springs at #2 Green River, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
#4 Thunder Basin at #5 Sheridan, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
#1 Cheyenne East at #3 Cheyenne Central, 6 p.m. (conference game)
Jackson at Star Valley, 6 p.m. (conference game)
CLASS 3A
#3 Pinedale at Mountain View, 4 p.m. (conference game)
#1 Cody at #5 Powell, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
Buffalo at Glenrock, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
CLASS 3A
Newcastle at Buffalo, 12:30 p.m. (conference game)
Glenrock at Rawlins, 3 p.m. (conference game)
Torrington at #4 Wheatland, 5:30 p.m. (conference game)
Wyoming Boys 4A Swimming & Diving State Championships 2026
4A Boys State Swim Meet for 2026 in Cheyenne
Gallery Credit: David Settle, WyoPreps.com
Wyoming
Political storm in Wyoming as far-right activist caught handing checks to lawmakers
Controversy has engulfed Wyoming’s state legislature after a conservative activist was photographed handing checks to Republican lawmakers on the state house floor, in an incident that has highlighted intra-conservative divisions and the role of money in the Cowboy state’s politics.
The political storm started on 9 February, when Karlee Provenza, a Democratic lawmaker, took a photo showing Rebecca Bextel, a conservative activist and committeewoman for the Teton county Republican party, handing a check to Darin McCann, a Republican representative, on the legislative floor. Marlene Brady, another Republican representative, stands in the photo’s background, a similar piece of paper pinched between her fingers.
“You have a person from the richest county in the country coming down to Cheyenne to hand out checks on the house floor,” Provenza said. “I have never seen something so egregious.”
Questions around the checks were soon swirling, and answers weren’t forthcoming. When asked what Bextel gave to her, Brady told a reporter for local outlet WyoFile: “I can’t remember.”
Then Bextel herself addressed the incident. “I raised $400,000 in the last election cycle for conservative candidates, and I will be doubling that amount this year,” Bextel wrote on Facebook on 11 February. “There’s nothing wrong with delivering lawful campaign checks from Teton county donors when I am in Cheyenne.”
Since then, it has emerged that the checks came from Don Grasso, a wealthy Teton county donor, who told the Jackson Hole News and Guide that he wrote the checks for Bextel to deliver to 10 Freedom caucus-aligned politicians. Grasso said the checks were intended as campaign contributions, and were not tied to specific legislation. It is unclear how many checks were ultimately delivered, but two of four confirmed recipients include the speaker of the house, Chip Neiman, and John Bear, the former head of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.
The Wyoming house has formed a legislative investigative committee, and the Laramie county sheriff’s office said they’d open a criminal investigation.
Bextel declined to answer questions from the Guardian. Brady, McCann and Bear did not respond to requests for comment.
Neiman said he considered the criticism a “wraparound smear campaign”. He said: “It never once crossed my mind that this was bribery.
“These legislators, myself included, are now guilty until we can prove that we’re innocent. How is that right in this country? Isn’t that a little bit backwards?”
The scandal has highlighted long-standing divisions in Wyoming’s Republican party, which in recent years has seen a growing divide between old school, more moderate conservatives and a harder-right Freedom Caucus.
Several former Republican lawmakers forcefully condemned their colleagues for accepting the checks, and a local Republican party branch called for the lawmakers’ resignations.
Ogden Driskill, a Wyoming Republican senator, told the Guardian he does not consider Bextel’s actions to be illegal, but that “just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should”.
Bextel has spent years pushing against housing mitigation fees in Wyoming, and Driskill noted that she distributed the house floor checks just days before a bill she had publicly supported was set to be heard. Bextel was registered as a member of the press, not as a lobbyist when she delivered the checks.
“Ethically and morally, it’s bankrupt to a massive degree,” Driskill said.
Neiman said that he and other legislators who received checks have supported similar bills in the past: “Bribery is paying somebody to do something they would not otherwise do.”
Nationally, the 2024 election cycle saw record-spending from the mega-wealthy, as well as dark money groups. Wyoming followed the trend, in a tense red-on-red primary season.
For those gearing up to campaign this year, Teton county, the richest in the US, and Bextel’s picturesque home turf, is an essential stop. Its extreme wealth gives it a foothold on the national level as well. Palantir chief executive Alex Karp and Donald Trump attended an annual Republican leadership fundraiser at Jackson Hole in 2024, and JD Vance attended the same one in 2025.
Bextel pulls dollars from Teton county into the Freedom Caucus side of Wyoming’s conservative split. She hosted no-press-allowed meet and greets earlier this year benefitting leading candidates for Wyoming’s governor and open US House seat.
In an interview with the Open Range Record, a media network she co-founded, Bextel said controversy around the checks was solely because she was making “even playing field” in Wyoming against the state’s more moderate Republicans, who she calls “George Soros” candidates. She said that she will be sure to keep raising money – just away from the legislative floor.
“I guess I’m gonna ask all the gentlemen and gentleladies to step outside the Capitol while I hand them a check,” Bextel said. “Let me be clear: I’m doubling down.”
But it’s not just wealthy local donors putting their weight behind the factions. Last election cycle, out of state groups spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on anonymous and often inaccurate mailers.
“These actors, especially from the far right, they like to push the bounds of the norms,” said Rosa Reyna Pugh, an organizing and advocacy consultant at Western States Center, an Oregon-based non-profit focused on democracy in the western United States. “They like to see what policies they can kind of push, and see where they can play a piece,” Reyna Pugh said.
While Neiman and Driskill fight politically, they do agree on one thing: summer will bring an expensive and brutal campaign season.
“You’re going to see more dark money than you’ve ever seen. We’ve done absolutely nothing to enforce it. Our secretary of state has not even made a slight attempt to deal with it,” Driskill said. “You’re going to see lots and lots of outside money and I think you’re seeing it on both sides.”
As national questions swirl around pay-to-play politics and profiteering in the Trump administration, Provenza wants better for the Cowboy State.
“We should not be aligning ourselves with how the federal government is conducting itself or how federal elections conduct themselves,” Provenza said. “We owe something far better and more honest to the people of Wyoming than that.”
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